Nabi sings ‘process’, but signs of ‘progress’ at Chiefs almost non-existent

Process.

That's a beast of a word Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi has been bandying about and hiding behind whenever he's asked if he deserves to continue his stay at the club given the poor results his team have churned out week in and week out. 

The 'process' Nabi claims he is busy with at Naturena rings hollow as the club's results show that there's no progress under the Tunisian's process. The Google dictionary search describes the word process as: “a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.”

Usually that end has to be a positive one for all and sundry to be behind that process. But with Nabi, the results of his process at Chiefs have been markedly negative. 

That Chiefs supremo Kaizer Motaung has not yet put an end to the circus could only be due to the amount the club will have to pay Nabi and his technical team if his two-year contract is cut short.

Nabi admitted after last week's humiliating 2-1 league defeat to Marumo Gallants at FNB Stadium that under his watch and during the implementing of his process, “the club has lost its way of playing”. Those were the coach's words uttered under no duress when he was asked why the team's play looked so soulless in their defeat to a club that has been fighting to avoid relegation all season. 

Imagine if those words were uttered by any of Nabi's predecessors — they might well have been fired on the spot. But for some reason, I guess based on his expensive contract, Nabi has managed to keep his job while dishing out some of the worst results the Soweto giants have produced under any coach since the club was formed.

Nabi took the defence of his process to another level after Orlando Pirates completed a league double over Chiefs, coming from behind for a 2-1 win at FNB Stadium on Saturday. The result means Amakhosi, in ninth place on 30 points from 26 games, are in serious danger of ending lower than their worst-ever 10th place last campaign. 

It also leaves Chiefs with only Saturday's Nedbank Cup final, also a huge-profile Soweto derby against Pirates, to apply some decency to what has otherwise been an underwhelming campaign under a man, given his credentials, everyone expected to hit the ground running and not talk up a process that doesn't seem to have any purpose or progress.

The problem for Nabi is Pirates, who have been cup specialists under Jose Riveiro in the last three seasons, winning five out of seven. The Buccaneers will be out too at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.

After Saturday's league derby defeat, not for the first time, Nabi became annoyed and claimed he was being provoked by “unprofessional journalists” when asked if he deserves to be given another season at Chiefs.

Saturday's loss was Chiefs' 12th in the league — no other coach in the club's history has ever lost so many league games and kept his job. Amakhosi had lost 12 league games before — last season — but that was under more than one coach.

“Normally, I wouldn't answer that question,” said Nabi after Saturday's defeat in the Soweto derby when he was asked if he was still fit to keep his job. 

“But I'm going to answer you. I don't think you're the right man to decide whether I am staying or not. My role and why I'm here, everyone knows that I'm here for the process. We can't expect immediate results.

“You're a professional journalist — professional journalists know that some clubs are playing for the title, this one is playing for Champions League and this one for that. I came here for the process.

“In my first press conference, I told a room full of journalists this is a transition season. If you are in a process, you don't ask me: 'Why are you staying here because the results are bad?'”

Stunning. That's how an incensed and furious Nabi responded when asked a valid question expected to provide clear reasons why his continued stay at Chiefs is justified.

Such an answer seems to indicate Nabi is waiting for Chiefs' management to push him out as he knows what he will gain financially from that move. If he leaves of his own volition, he stands to lose 12 months of his salary. 

But even if Chiefs were to beat Pirates in Saturday's final, keeping a coach who has already admitted his team has “lost their way of playing” could be a big mistake.

Saturday's result meant Chiefs have won one match out of their last 10 in the league. If there were signs of progress under Nabi's process, it could well be argued he deserves another bite at the cherry. 

You're a professional journalist — professional journalists know that some clubs are playing for the title, this one is playing for Champions League and this one for that. I came here for the process.

—  Nasreddine Nabi

It may be true that in Amakhosi’s current squad there are a few players who deserve to wear the famous gold and black shirt. But Nabi cannot use that as an excuse having been the one who evaluated the combination in a preseason camp in Turkey and who had a chance to bolster his team with new recruits in January.

Somehow Nabi doesn't seem to understand the speed with which he must get his process moving at a once-mighty club that is within a defeat on Saturday of embarrassingly extending their barren run to a decade without silverware. Despite the poor results, Nabi seems to have managed not only to charm the club's officials that he should remain in the hot seat, but supporters, who protested with regular instances of missile-throwing under last season's coaches Molefi Ntseki and Cavin Johnson, seem to have accepted their club is broken beyond repair and Nabi is not the one to blame.

A win for Chiefs in Saturday's final may just present Nabi with a reprieve, but that stay will be a dangerous one as there's no sign the coach is anywhere near making any progress with his process at Chiefs. A loss will definitely limit where Nabi can hide.

The process Nabi has been talking about will certainly not shield him from the blame. The best he could do is to take a hike before he's pushed.